oft: or, diligently, Gr. With the fist, Up to the elbow, Theophylact. Πυγμη: strong:G4435, the fist; which Dr. Lightfoot illustrates by a tradition from the Talmudical tracts, that when they washed their hands, they washed the fist up to the joint of the arm, ςγ τψχ:. The Jews laid great stress on these washings, or baptisms, βαπτισμους: strong:G909, considering eating with unwashen hands no ordinary crime, and feigning that an evil spirit, called Shibta, has a right to sit on the food of him who thus eats, and render it hurtful.
the tradition: Mark 7:7-10, Mark 7:13; Matthew 15:2-6; Galatians 1:14; Colossians 2:8, Colossians 2:21-23; 1 Peter 1:18